The parents of a Fayette County toddler who was malnourished and dehydrated when she died have each been sentenced to up to nine years in prison.

Robert Dodson, 57, and his wife, Tammy Jo Bohon, 37, both of Point Marion, were charged with homicide in the Jan. 6, 2011, death of their 15-month-old daughter, Madison Violet Dodson.

The child had multiple health problems and required a feeding tube, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing in November.

Violet was malnourished and dehydrated at the time of her death, according to an autopsy report.

Judge Steve Leskinen on Thursday sentenced the couple to 4½ to 9 years in state prison, as per terms of plea bargains in which they entered guilty pleas to involuntary manslaughter.

The two were sentenced separately, with Dodson appearing in the morning and Bohon in the afternoon.

Leskinen granted the couple’s request to be kept at the Fayette County Prison until after a dependency hearing next month for their other children.

The two have seven other children, the youngest of whom is 4 years old. Dodson last month told the judge their minor children are in foster care.

State police at Uniontown said Bohon was away from the couple’s house, smoking crack cocaine with a friend in Masontown, when Madison’s feeding tube became dislodged.

Dodson told police he rigged up a replacement and went to sleep, then called 911 the next morning when he awoke to find Madison unresponsive on the living room floor, where he had placed her the night before.

Police said they found animal and human feces, dirty diapers, cigarette butts and broken trash bags throughout the house. Cats were going in and out of kitchen closets. The children slept on box springs and mattresses with no bed linens, according to police.

This article was written by Channel 11’s news exchange partners at TribLIVE.